JP2000258024A - Refrigeration system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for freezing articles while carrying on a conveyor without using brine. SOLUTION: Jet nozzles 19 provided with slit-like ejection openings in an inclining cavity becoming narrower as receding from a chill supply opening are arranged toward the rear side of cooling plates 13a, 13b of chain conveyors 18a, 18b hinged with the cooling plates 13a, 13b along with an endless chain 5. Means for waiting the chain conveyor 18a comprising sprockets 14, 14', a chain 15, and a rail 17a is disposed at the upper part of the system. The hinged coupling part of the cooling plates 13a, 13b on the plate touching an article has angular edge and comprises a combination of long and short parts.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a refrigerating apparatus for freezing an article while transferring the article.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As an apparatus for freezing articles while nipping and transporting the articles between upper and lower conveyors, a sprocket 103 is fitted to rotating shafts 102 provided at an entrance and an exit of an apparatus 10A as shown in FIG. The endless belts 104a and 104b are passed over the endless belt 104a, and an antifreeze solution (hereinafter, referred to as "brine") such as a calcium chloride solution cooled by the cooler 107 is applied to the entire back side of the endless belt 104a that is in contact with the article 10B. The brine accommodating bag 105 made of a soft and abrasion-resistant waterproof sheet to be accommodated is brought into contact with the airbag, and the endless belt 104b circling the lower side is provided toward the back side in contact with the article 10B. The cooled brine is ejected, and the ejected brine is supplied to tray 1
08 Refrigerator (Contact Fr
eezing System (hereinafter referred to as CFS) is on the market.

[0003]

The above-mentioned conventional CFS is:
Brine management is difficult, equipment costs are high, and the size of the supplied waterproof sheet is limited despite the size of the entire device, and the contact resistance between the brine storage bag and the endless belt increases. Therefore, there is a limit to the width of the conveyor.

[0004] Cases for freezing an article by CFS include a case of bagged food, a case of food wrapped in a container such as a tray or the like, or a case of unpackaged food. , Can be frozen by pressing the endless belt from above and below, but in the latter two,
The bottom surface can contact the endless belt,
When the endless belt is pressed against the upper surface, there are problems such as breakage of a container such as a tray or collapse of the shape of food.

Therefore, the above-mentioned conventional CFS cannot be applied to freezing of unpackaged food and food in containers such as trays.
This hinders the effective use of the device.

[0006] In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to firstly provide a CFS having a simple mechanism without using brine, and secondly, to provide bagged food and unpacked food or containers such as trays. Thirdly, to provide a CFS which can be frozen while transporting any of the contained foods. Third, the operating efficiency is improved by substantially eliminating the contact resistance between the cooling means (the brine storage sack) and the conveyor, and the maintenance cost is reduced. Fourth, it is to provide a significantly reduced CFS, and fourthly, to provide a CFS capable of increasing the width of a conveyor as compared with the prior art.

[0007] Further, the present invention provides a CFS in which the connecting portion of the hinged cooling plate is not frozen so as not to become inoperable, and the surface of the frozen article is prevented from having an uneven pattern due to the connecting portion of the hinged cooling plate. To provide CFS.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention relates to a refrigeration apparatus for freezing articles while transporting the articles sandwiched between the conveyors from above and below, wherein the conveyors are made of a heat conductive material together with endless chains. The cooling plate is connected in a hinge shape or an endless track shape, and a cool air jet nozzle is provided toward the back surface of the cooling plate,
The cool air ejection nozzle has a configuration in which a slit-like ejection port is provided in an inclined cavity that becomes narrower as the distance from the cool air supply port increases.

[0009] With the above configuration, no brine is required, the mechanism is simple and compact, the contact resistance between the conveyor and the cooling means is substantially eliminated, the operation efficiency is improved, and the width of the conveyor can be increased. As a result, maintenance costs can be reduced. In addition, cool air is evenly blown out across the width of the conveyor.

[0010] In addition, a configuration is adopted in which means for making the semi-circular conveyor which rotates on the upper side substantially half the length thereof stand by at the upper portion of the chain conveyor is provided.

With the above configuration, it is possible to easily switch between two types of contact refrigeration, namely, upper and lower contact refrigeration and lower contact / upper surface cold air injection refrigeration.

[0012] In the cooling plate hingedly connected,
A configuration is adopted in which the edge on the surface side of the connecting portion is angular and the long portion and the short portion are connected.

[0013] With the above configuration, the depression formed in the connecting portion of the cooling plate is reduced, the surface of the frozen article is not uneven, and the freezing state of the connecting shaft and the connecting portion is easily broken. Restart is easy.

[0014]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, articles flow from right to left in the drawing.

An article supply means 1 is provided in front of the apparatus A. A rotating shaft 3 driven by a motor 2 is provided above and below the outlet of the apparatus A, and a rotating shaft 3 'driven by the rotating shaft 3 is provided at the entrance.
And sprockets 4 and 4 ′ are fitted to both ends of the rotating shafts 3 and 3 ′, and endless chains (hereinafter simply referred to as chains) 5 are hung over the two sprockets 4 and 4 ′. An intermediate sprocket 6 for removing slack is arranged on the return path of the chain 5, and an article discharging means 7 is provided at a subsequent stage of the apparatus A.
And a conveyor 8 for the next step. Note that 9
Is a scraper for removing the article B from the upper cooling plate.

A cooler 10 is arranged below the device A,
As shown in FIG. 4, the cool air generated here is jetted through a pressure chamber 12 by a high-pressure axial-flow high-pressure fan (air volume: 185 m ³ / min, air pressure: 85 mm-Aq, hereinafter referred to as a fan) 11 and jet nozzle (hereinafter referred to as a nozzle). 19, the cooling plates 13a, 1
Sprayed on the back of 3b.

The nozzle 19 has an inclined cavity (entrance, 900 × 200,
A slit-shaped ejection port is provided at the end (900 × 50, length 2900 (mm)). The dimensions of the inclined cavity are experimentally determined based on the capacity of the cooler and the fan, the size of the entire system, and the like, and do not affect the scope of the claims based on the numerical values. The cross section of the inclined cavity is square, but may be any shape such as a round shape or an elliptical shape. When the width of the conveyor is narrow, the inclined cavity need not be formed.

Separate sprockets 14 and 14 'are arranged at the uppermost entrance of the apparatus A, and a cooling plate retraction chain 15 which is used when the conveyor 18a which goes around the upper side makes a half turn is suspended. .

As shown in FIG. 4, the apparatus A includes a heat insulating wall 16.
At the top, the above-mentioned chain 15 for drawing in the cooling plate is on the track 17b. In addition, the track 17
b, the track 17 supporting the drawn-in cooling plate 13a
a is located.

On the cooling machine 10, cooling plates 13a, 13a
conveyors 18a and 18b, which are connected to each other in a hinge shape together with a chain, are arranged. A nozzle 19 is arranged between the orbiting chain conveyors 18a and 18b toward the back side of the cooling plates 13a and 13b sandwiching the article B. The cool air generated by the cooler 10 blows out from the nozzle 19 through the pressure chamber 12 to cool the cooling plates 13a and 13b. The lower cooling plate 13b is supported by the track 17 so that it does not hang halfway.

The cool air blown to the back side of the cooling plates 13a and 13b returns to the installation room of the cooler 10 according to the arrow and is cooled again and circulated. Here, a defrost nozzle 20 is provided on the left side of the cooler 10 so as to be vertically movable.

Next, the cooling plate 13 integrally connected to the chain 5 by the connecting shaft 21 will be described with reference to FIGS. The connecting part of the aluminum cooling plate 13 is a short part 2
2 and the long part 23 are combined and connected together with the chain 5 by the connecting shaft 21.

Here, as shown in FIG. 7, the connection state of the cooling plate 13 is such that the edge of the connection portion 24 is squared 25 on the front side (the surface in contact with the article) of the cooling plate 13 so that the depression of the connection portion is small. As shown in FIG. 8, the cooling plate 13 and the chain 5 are connected together with the piece 5 ′ by passing the thin diameter portion 21 ′ of the connecting shaft 21, which connects the cooling plate 13 in a hinge shape, through the connection hole of the chain 5 as it is. They are connected and are prevented from coming off by split pins 26.

As shown in FIG. 9, the cooling plate 13 'may be formed with a connection portion 24' having no squareness and connected by the connection shaft 21 ". However, in this case, the article has a flowability before freezing. When applied to, the surface after freezing becomes uneven, so it is applied only to non-flowable articles.

In the above-described embodiment, the chain conveyors 18a and 18b employ a cooling plate hinged together with the chain 5, but the bracket 5b is raised from the chain 5 "as shown in FIGS. An endless track having a cooling plate 13 "made of aluminum attached to the blanket 5b may be used.

In each of the above embodiments, aluminum is used as the material of the cooling plate. However, any material having thermal conductivity may be appropriately selected according to the required specifications.

Next, a case in which food items are put in the tray 27 and the articles whose upper portions are wrapped 28 are frozen will be described.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 13, since the upper cooling plate 13a is unnecessary, the chain conveyor 18a orbiting the upper side is made to stand by in the following procedure.

The entire apparatus is stopped, and the upper chain conveyor 18a is cut off at the entrance and exit of the apparatus as shown in FIG.
Then, the chain conveyor 18a is rotated half a turn to stop the apparatus, and the chain 15 for drawing in and the chain conveyor 18a are separated. In this state, the separated chain conveyor 18a 'is located on the return path side, and only the pull-in chain 15 is on the outward path side.

In the above state, the upper chain conveyor 18
When the operation of a is stopped and only the lower chain conveyor is operated, the bottom surface of the tray 27 is cooled by contacting the cooling plate 13b, and cool air is blown onto the upper surface (the wrap 28 side) of the tray 27 to be cooled. Become so.

[0030]

As explained above, according to the present invention,
Eliminates the need for brine, simplifies the mechanism, reduces the operating and maintenance costs of the equipment, and cools the heat conductive cooling plate by injecting cold air, eliminating contact resistance, improving operating efficiency, and improving conveyor efficiency. Cool air is spouted evenly in the width direction.

In addition, two types of contact freezing can be performed, namely, upper and lower two-sided contact freezing and lower surface contact / upper surface cold air injection freezing.

Further, with respect to an article having fluidity before and after freezing, it is possible to prevent unevenness from occurring on the surface after freezing, and when the operation is resumed after the stoppage, the frozen state of the connecting portion of the cooling plate is easily broken. Can be easily restarted.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of an entrance portion of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged sectional view of an outlet part of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line AA of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing a connecting portion between the chain and the cooling plate.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a cooling plate.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG. 5;

8 is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG.

FIG. 9 is a longitudinal sectional view of a connecting portion of a cooling plate according to another embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of an endless orbit cooling plate.

11 is a sectional view taken along line DD of FIG.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of an operation for waiting the upper cooling plate.

FIG. 13 is a state diagram in which the upper cooling plate is on standby;

FIG. 14 is a schematic explanatory view of a conventional CFS.

[Explanation of symbols]

 A device B article 1 article supply means 2 motor 3,3 'rotating shaft 4,4' sprocket 5 endless chain 6 intermediate sprocket 7 discharge means 8 chain conveyor 8a upper chain conveyor 8b lower chain conveyor 9 scraper 10 cooling machine 11 fan 12 Passage 13 Cooling plate 13a Upper cooling plate 13b Lower cooling plate 14, 14 'Standing sprocket 15 Retraction chain 16 Insulating wall 17, 17a Track 18 Conveyor 18a Upper conveyor 18b Lower conveyor 19 Cold air outlet 20 Defrosting nozzle 21 Connecting shaft 22 Short part 23 Long part 24 Connecting part 25 Square tension 26 Split pin 27 Tray 28 Wrap

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A refrigerating apparatus for freezing an article while conveying the article by sandwiching the article from above and below by a conveyor, wherein the conveyer connects a cooling plate made of a heat conductive material together with an endless chain in a hinge or endless track shape. A refrigeration apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. 2. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a slit-shaped cool air jet nozzle is provided toward a back surface of the cooling plate. 3. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the nozzle is provided with a slit-shaped ejection port in an inclined cavity that becomes narrower as the distance from the cool air supply port increases. 4. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising means for waiting at a top portion of the chain conveyor for substantially half of the chain conveyor rotating on the upper side. 5. The refrigerating apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an edge on a surface side of a connecting portion in which the cooling plates are connected in a hinge shape is angular. 6. The cooling plate according to claim 1, wherein a hinge-like connecting portion of the cooling plate is connected by a long portion and a short portion.
A refrigeration apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.